Board-puller.



S. VERGELLINI.

BOARD FULLER.

APPLICATION I'ILED AUG. 29, 1913 Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH UTTE STEPHEN VERGELLINI, or Bo-sToN, MAssAoHUs'ETTs.

BOARD-FULLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 31 late,

Application filed August 29, 1913. Serial No. 787,301.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN VnncnLLINI, a citizen of the United States, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Board Pullers, of which the following is a specification.

Temporary stagings or scaffoldings, such as are commonly employed in the erection of buildings, are usually constructed of uprights or poles having boards nailed thereto. WVhen such temporary structures are to be struck, it is customary to separate the boards from the uprights or poles by striking them with a hammer in the direction to either pull the nails out from the uprights, Or if the nails are tight, then force the boards over the heads of the nails. Since the hammer usually employed cannot be made to contact with the boards over more than a limited area, the result is usually to split the boards, more or less, and thus destroy their usefulness for another staging or scaffolding.

The object of my invention is to provide an appliance which will not only save time in the taking down of a staging or scaffolding, but also economize in the cost of such structures, my improved appliance enabling the boards to be pulled away from the uprights without liability of splitting the boards thereby enabling the boards to be used again repeatedly, without having to saw off the split ends.

To these ends my invention consists in the implementwhich I shall now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are perspective views from the opposite sides of an appliance or tool constructed in accordance with my invention in one of its embodiments, said views illustrating the position of the tool or appliance when in use for pulling away a nailed board. Fig. 8 represents a section on a larger scale, taken through the space between the two plates of the bracket or casing. Fig. 4 represents a section on line 4li of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 represents a section on line 55 of Fig. 3. In Figs. 3 and 5 the parts are in the positions which they occupy when the board has been pulled from the upright or pole to which it had been nailed.

Similar reference characters indicate similar parts in all of the views. I

A bracket or casing in the embodiment illustrated comprises spaced plates 12, 13-, connected by rivets or bolts 14c, spacing washers or distance pieces 15 being employed between the plates to hold said plates at the proper distance apart. One of the plates has eyes or loops 16, at a sufficient distance from the inner edge of the plate, for the purpose hereinafter described, said eyes or loops being adapted to receive a bar or pin 17, which is dropped behind the board after the appliance is held in position for use. Two legs 18, having slots through which two or more of the rivets or bolts 14- pass, are connected by a bar 19, so that the bar and the legs, as a whole, may be slid or shifted relatively to the rear edge of the bracket or casing. The ends of the legs are providedwith feet 20, to press or bear against a fixed surface, such as a pole or upright 64 of a staging or scaflolding. A cam 21, adapted to operate against the rear edge of the bar 19, is formed or provided with a hand lever 22, said cam being mounted between the plates 13, upon a pivot 23. A laterally inclined strut 24 is pivotally connected to the bracket or casing, as by being mounted upon the pivot 23, said pivot being extended to project through one of the plates of the casing to provide the pivot for strut 24 as well as the fulcrum of the cam and lever. Said strut is free to swing completely around the axis of its pivot, and is preferably provided with a beveled end 25. A cord or chain 26 (Fig. 2) may connect the eye of the pin 17 with a suitable fixed point of the casing, to avoid necessity of the workman descending to the ground if he hould drop the pin.

When the appliance is to be used, it is placed in position to straddle the board I) that is to be removed, with the legs 18 passing above and below the edges of the board, the feet 20 hearing against the face of the pole or upright a of the staging. When the appliance is so located in position, the handlever is turned upwardly. The eyes or loops 16 also project rearwardly above and below the board, and the pin or bar 17 is dropped into the eyes behind the board. When the appliance is being so located, the inclined strut usually hangs loosely downward. As soon as the pin or bar 17 has been dropped in place, the strut 2a is swung around to bear against the outer face of the board, as shown in Fig. 2. Then upon depressing the hand-lever toward the position bearing plane of the feet 20, will cause the bar 17 to pull the board away and draw the nails 0, the pulling pressure being distributed equally across the entire width of the board,

so that there is no splitting action whatever upon the board. During this operation of the hand-lever, the strut 24, by hearing against the outer face of the board at some little distance laterally from the feet and pulling pin, steadie the appliance and prevents the strain of pulling from tending to swing the entire appliance laterally.

As clearly illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the casing and the parts carried thereby will readily straddle a board of considerable thickness, the distance between the rear edge of the casing and the plane of operation of the feet and pulling pin being sufficient to accommodate a board of considerably greater thickness than illustrated, or even to accommodate a plurality of overlapped boards. In the construction of stagings and scaffoldings it is quite common to lap the end of one board over the end of another board and fasten both by one set of nails passing through them into the pole or upright a. My improved implement is adapted therefore to separate a plurality of boards or a single one from the fixed support or upright to which they or it have been nailed.

I do not limit myself of course to any particular size of implement. The distance between the upper and lower loops 16v and feet '20 may be considerably greater than illustrated in the drawings to accommodate boards of much greater width. Boards employed for stagings and scaffoldings however do not usually exceed eight inches in width. My improved implement comprises a pressing or foot piece consisting of the bar 19, legs 18 and angular feet 20, the latter of which are adapted to bear against the fixed support or upright a, a puller compressing the pin or bar 17 which is formed so as to contact with the rear surface of the board over the entire lateral area thereof, and means comprising the cam 21 and lever 22 which is operated to vary the relationship of the planes of the foot piece and puller. That is, the foot piece bears against the upright a in one plane, and when the implement is operated as has been described, the puller is shifted to increase the distance between its plane of operation against the rear surface of the board and the bearing plane of the foot piece. In other words, the puller moves in a direction substantially perpendicular to the plane of the support against which the foot piece bears, and the movement of the puller isa forcible and gradual one which is exerted on the board in such manner as to avoid any liability of splitting the board even if the board should be pulled over the heads of some of the nails instead of extracting the nails at the same time as when the board is pulled away as shown in Figs. 3 and 5.

As will now be understood,"theimplement is so constructed as to completely straddle a board of any such width as is employed in temporary stagings and scaffoldings, with the foot piece bearing against the fixed support or post a. The puller carrier also straddles the board, and its eyes or loops for the puller pin 17, when the implement is first applied to position, are in a plane behind the bearing plane of the flanges or bearing portions 20. The difference in these two planes must be at least equal to the thickness of the board. Then when the implement is operated as described to pull the board away from the upright or post a, the puller pin 17 is moved past the plane of the bearing members 20 and tea position well in front of said plane. In other words, the puller moves entirely past the bearing plane of the foot piece. Furthermore, owing to the fact that the puller pin extends across the entire rear surface of the board to be pulled, there is no liability whatever of splitting the board.

I am aware that many devices have been constructed with relatively movable members, such as ordinarylifting jacks, metal bar straighteners, and devices operating upon the principle of a lever to pry boards loose. Implements of the first and second types mentioned do not employ pullers movable past the bearing plane of the implement, and implements of the third type do not exert an even pull upon the board and are liable to split it.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. An implement for detaching boards,- comprising a foot piece formed to straddle a board and to bear against a fixed support, a puller carrier also formed to straddle the board at one side of the foot piece, a pulling pin detachably connected with said carrier and formed to extend across the rear surface of the board, and means for moving the puller across the bearing plane of the foot piece.

2. An implement for detaching boards, comprising a fork to straddle a board, a bar to engage the inner face of the board, said bar being separably connected with said fork, a rest to bear against a fixed surface adjacent the board, and means to shift the board at one side of the foot piece, a pulling pin detachably connected with said carrier and formed to extend across the rear surface of the board, means for moving the puller across the bearing plane of the foot piece, and a laterally extending strut connected to and movable With the puller carrier and having a free outer end adapted to bear against the outer face of the board to prevent the implement from swinging laterally.

4. An implement for detaching boards, comprising a casing consisting of tWo spaced plates, the edges of which are recessed to straddle a board, one of said plates having 1 loops, a pin removably mounted in said loops, a bar slidably mounted between said plates, said bar having spaced feet adapted to straddle a board and to bear against a fixed support, and a cam having a lever, said cam being pivotally mounted between said plates and engaging said bar, and adapted to be operated to force the bar and its feet against a fixed support to cause the pin to remove a board from said support, the pin being mounted to be moved across the bearing plane of the said feet.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature, in presence of tWo Witnesses.

STEPHEN VERCELLINI. Witnesses:

A. W. HARRISON, P. W. PEZZETTI.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G." 

